Fed­eral judges block an im­me­di­ate end to DACA

WASH­ING­TON — A fed­eral ap­peals court ruled Thurs­day that Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump can­not im­me­di­ately end the pro­gram that shields from de­por­ta­tion young un­doc­u­mented im­mi­grants who were brought to the coun­try as chil­dren.

The unan­i­mous de­ci­sion by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Ap­peals for the 9th Cir­cuit makes it more likely that the Supreme Court will set­tle the ques­tion.

The Trump ad­min­is­tra­tion moved to end the pro­gram in 2017 af­ter Texas and other states threat­ened to sue to force an end to the pro­gram. Then-At­tor­ney Gen­eral Jeff Ses­sions ad­vised to end the pro­gram, say­ing it was prob­a­bly un­law­ful and that it could not be de­fended in court.

But a num­ber of courts have ruled that the ad­min­is­tra­tion's rea­son­ing was in­cor­rect and kept the pro­gram in place.